short story analysis
Canada: Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood
1. Canada is surrounded by the Arctic ocean to the north, the Labrador Sea and Atlantic ocean to the east, the United States to the south, and the Pacific ocean to the west.
2. In Wilderness Tips, Margaret Atwood incorporates various themes in her story. Family plays a big role because the characters are all related; there are three sisters, a brother, and one of the sister’s husbands. The sisters, Pamela, Prue, and Portia, have alliterative names. Atwood writes, “It was the mother (Prue explained) who had been guilty of the daughters’ alliterative names. She was a whimsical woman, though not sadistic; it was simply an age when parents did that—named their children to match, as if they’d come out of an alphabet book” (47). Roland, the brother, did not receive an alliterative name like his sisters. According to Prue, he has always resented this, and this could be one of the reasons why there is some animosity between the siblings.
This short story has the characters set deeply in their gender roles. Atwood writes, “The women take it in turns to clear and do the dishes, and it isn’t her turn. Roland’s job is the wood-splitting. There was an attempt once to press George into serve with a tea towel, but he jovially broke three wineglasses, exclaiming over his own clumsiness, and since has been left in peace” (49). Prue is the promiscuous sister who has been having an affair with George, her sister Porcia’s husband. She uses her role as a woman to tempt and woo George every opportunity she gets. The beginning of the story describes one of these situations by saying, “Now she’s strutting the length of the dock, in her improvised halter top and her wide-legged white shorts, her sunglasses with the white plastic frames, her platform sandals” (42). George is guilty of falling victim to Prue’s games. Atwood describes one of their flings by writing, “…George asked her, running his tongue around her navel as she lay
1. Canada is surrounded by the Arctic ocean to the north, the Labrador Sea and Atlantic ocean to the east, the United States to the south, and the Pacific ocean to the west.
2. In Wilderness Tips, Margaret Atwood incorporates various themes in her story. Family plays a big role because the characters are all related; there are three sisters, a brother, and one of the sister’s husbands. The sisters, Pamela, Prue, and Portia, have alliterative names. Atwood writes, “It was the mother (Prue explained) who had been guilty of the daughters’ alliterative names. She was a whimsical woman, though not sadistic; it was simply an age when parents did that—named their children to match, as if they’d come out of an alphabet book” (47). Roland, the brother, did not receive an alliterative name like his sisters. According to Prue, he has always resented this, and this could be one of the reasons why there is some animosity between the siblings.
This short story has the characters set deeply in their gender roles. Atwood writes, “The women take it in turns to clear and do the dishes, and it isn’t her turn. Roland’s job is the wood-splitting. There was an attempt once to press George into serve with a tea towel, but he jovially broke three wineglasses, exclaiming over his own clumsiness, and since has been left in peace” (49). Prue is the promiscuous sister who has been having an affair with George, her sister Porcia’s husband. She uses her role as a woman to tempt and woo George every opportunity she gets. The beginning of the story describes one of these situations by saying, “Now she’s strutting the length of the dock, in her improvised halter top and her wide-legged white shorts, her sunglasses with the white plastic frames, her platform sandals” (42). George is guilty of falling victim to Prue’s games. Atwood describes one of their flings by writing, “…George asked her, running his tongue around her navel as she lay